(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a content recording apparatus for recording digital content carried on data streams of video and audio signals. The present invention also relates to a method for controlling the content recording apparatus.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In the field of TV broadcasting, terrestrial digital broadcasting has recently been launched. In response to this, content recording apparatuses capable of long hours of recording are widely available on the market. Normally, such a content recording apparatus is equipped with a plurality of recording devices, such as a combination of an HDD device and a DVD recorder.
Unlike analog copying of a video tape, digital content can be copied easily and without any degradation in quality. Furthermore, copying of digital content is possible for an unlimited number of times.
In order to address the above problems in copyright protection, digital content is attached with copy control information (hereinafter, “CCI”) that restricts copying of the content. CCI indicates one of the following three states: “Copy Freely”, “Copy Never”, and “Copy One Generation”.
With the “Copy Freely” status, the digital content is allowed to be freely copied. With the “Copy Never” status, the digital content is prohibited from being copied but playback of the content is allowed.
With the “Copy One Generation” status, the digital content is allowed to be copied once only. After being copied, the status of the digital content is changed to “Copy Never”.
Currently, a recording apparatus manages stored content using a single apparatus ID unique to the recording apparatus, even if the recording apparatus is equipped with an HDD and a DVD recorder. For this reason, when content previously recorded by the HDD on HD is recorded by a DVD recorder on a DVD, this operation is regarded as copying of the content. Thus, the content must be “moved” which means that the originally stored content must be erased from the HD. Such a technique is disclosed for example in JP patent application publication No. 2002-245718.
Unfortunately, a content recording apparatus as above has a disadvantage. Considering the case where the content recording apparatus records the content labeled as “Copy One Generation” on the HD by the HDD. In order to play back the content stored in the HD with an external player, the stored content needs to be moved from the HD to a DVD using the DVD recorder, which requires a certain amount of time.
In addition, there is another disadvantage in the case where the HDD and the DVD recorder differ in their recording bit rates. More specifically, when the recording bit rate of DVD recorder is lower than that of the HDD, once content is moved to a DVD at the lower bit rate, it is no longer possible to store the content back to the HD at the higher bit rate ensuring the original high image quality.